BEN FOLDS FIVE ANNOUNCES FIRST UK DATES
REUNITED BAND TO TOUR THE UK IN NOV/DEC
INCLUDES LONDON XMAS SHOW
AS YET UNTITLED ALBUM SET FOR AUGUST RELEASE

This winter original members of Ben Folds Five (Ben Folds, Darren Jessee, Robert Sledge) will return to the UK for the first time since Christmas 1999 playing 8 shows in the UK and Ireland.
The tour is scheduled to begin in Bournemouth on November 23. Ben, Robert and Darren first got back together last summer to record three new songs for a career retrospective 3-CD set released in October of last year. Finding it to be fun and feeling that old magic, the three original members decided to go the distance and record a full new album at Ben’s Nashville studio earlier this year.
The reunited band will debut this summer in the States playing just 4 major gigs in June at Mountain Jam in upstate New York, Chastain Park in Atlanta, the Bonnaroo festival, and wrapping up at Milwaukee SummerFest. Following the upcoming August release of the album, Ben Folds Five will play a full North American tour in September-October, drop down to Australia and then begin the UK/Ireland run of dates.

really great band, my uncle was a fan and gave me loads of tapes and CD's in the 90's, they were one of the first real 'indie' bands I got into. Not really followed his solo stuff, but will be a great nostalgia trip. In fact my uncle (bass) me (drums) and brother (piano) have played a couple of tribute sets!!

how people who liked the Five don't like the solo stuff. It's a bit different, but not that much. There's no growling bass but other than that it's still a mixture of the quiet and raucous, the beautiful and occasionally the silly...

but also general tone, especially Silverman onward, you're not allowed to be throwing out 'WRONGs' at me.

I'm a colossal fan. I have every release he's put out in any form bar an annoying elusive Japanese special edition, and I'll probably keep buying his stuff 'til he stops. But: his solo stuff has been on a steady decline. His live performances , however, more than make up for that. It's the new material on *record* I find specifically worse.

i was ever so slightly disappointed they didn't play emaline and i'm not super keen on all the new tracks but overall the set list was pretty perfect. if i had enough money i'd try and get to one of the london dates too.

and yes it was brilliant. Initially only a Brixton date had been announced and I made a plan to go to that with friends. But when they added one that I could walk to... it would have been rude not to. Really happy I'm going to see them again.

I guess Emaline got dropped because they could see how they were doing for time. They did a full two hours and the Academy has a strict curfew. And is a shit venue, but there was no way I wasn't going for this.